The Uses of Herbaria in Botanical Research: A Review Based on Evidence From Argentina

Abstract

Botanists, a section of the broad universe of researchers in Biology, are intensive users of herbaria. Presumably, all botanists use herbaria, with greater or lesser frequency and intensity, in the development of their research. In this article, we will try to prove this statement. For this purpose, an institutional history of Botany and herbaria in Argentina is presented. This study will also show that there are other fields of knowledge in which the herbarium has a role as an input, or data source, for research (e.g. agronomy, ethnobotany, medicine). On the other hand, it will be demonstrated that, in addition to the uses of the herbarium in basic science, this institution has a crucial role in the knowledge and preservation of biodiversity, and in the improvement of species for commercial use.